Looking for a New Camcorder and Ideas

[Ric]

I have a Canon Elura 100 which still works good, but looking to upgrade I looked at the Canon GL2 but its a little pricey. Any ideas on a good camcorder some where around $1000.00 maybe a little more if it will make a big difference in the final project. Does anyone have and ideas on where to start and that will work good for editing in elements? Thanks for your help.

[Greg mgm]

My experience has been very good with tape based camcorders, and Elements gets along very good with them too.
There's one by Canon that you might look at-

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/553638-REG/Canon__VIXIA_HV30_HDV_Camcorder.html#features

One of my cameras is the Canon XH A1. It's an awesome camera, but it's apparently out of your price range.

My opinion is to get a camera with a mic input for more control over the audio. It makes a big difference!

All my cameras have mic inputs, AV out and a LANC port. The A1 has 3 control rings on the lens- focus, iris, and zoom.
You have to figure out which features are important to you, and go from there. You should have no problem finding a great camera for under $1000.

I regularly use BHvideo and Amazon to look at cameras online. They usually have close up photos, and lots of info about them, as well as customer reviews/ ratings.

Good luck!

[Ric]

I would love to get my hands on a Canon XH-A1. Just not sure how long it would take me to get my money back on video jobs I do. I make High School sport videos with pictures to music for the teams and show it at there end of year banquet. I would like a camcorder at has 3CCCD and would work on a swallow delpth of field, blur the other people in the video. I don't mind buying used I just want to make and upgrade to my camcorder that is worth it and not just jump to the next step up from the Elura.

[Greg mgm]

A 3 ccd camera will be more expensive for sure. There are excellent cameras with only one sensor though.

I use my 2 camcorders very differently. My Sony HC3 is used in auto mode, and works great that way. My A1 is used for control over everything, like depth of field (like you said) It sounds like you may want a camera with control rings or at least easy aperture control.

This Sony is very popular-
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=11034787

JVC has one with a manual focus ring, but not sure how the other controls work, maybe through the menu?
I don't think it has an iris control ring though, but it does have "Selectable Exposure/Iris Control".

When I shopped for more expensive camcorders, I was instantly hooked on the A1. My bills were paid, and I just decided to buy the darn thing!



The price has come down on it. I paid $3500 a year ago.

Seriously though, you can do amazing things with a regular sub $1000 camera. I've seen excellent movies made with regular consumers camcorders. Or you could spend more $$$. Depends on your financial situation.

[jackfalbey]

There are ways to get shallow DoF with consumer-grade cams as long as you have manual focus control (from this thread):

There's also a simple "cheat" to get the film-style shallow DOF if your camcorder has manual focus...

1) Zoom all the way in (optical, NOT digital)
2) Physically move your camcorder back until your subject is properly framed
3) Adjust the focus manually

You can use this to have the foreground and background out of focus while your subject is in focus, or you can also use this to change focus within the shot... say from a closer subject to a farther one or vice-versa.

[Chuck Engels]

The XH A1 is a great camera, I get to use one about 6 hours a week.
I know most of the ins and outs now and have been using it two days a week for about a year.
It has an amazing picture in good light but still does not have the best low light capability.
There are plenty of settings for Iris and Gain that allow extra light but at the highest setting it can get a bit grainy.

You can see it in action at trinitychapel.org (Media tab/Live Broadcast) Wednesday nights at 7pm eastern time and Sunday mornings at 9 and 11:15 am eastern time. All handheld shots from both sides of the stage (we have two of these cameras, one on each side of the stage) and most of the audience shots are from the two XH A1s.

The camera is light in weight and very easy to use. Most of the controls are easy to access and it has a very nice system for setting presets.
There isn't much you can't do with this camera

[jackfalbey]

Ric,

The XH-A1 at $3000 is about 3x your stated budget, but Canon has just released the XH-A1s (upgraded version) which should push the price down on remaining A1 models in stock. Check around after the holidays to see if you can get a good deal on one.

[Chuck Engels]

You can probably find a good used XL1, GL1 or GL2 for around $1000
They aren't HDV but they do have 3CCDs and are great cameras.

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

Been thinking about this question. I have the Sony HVR-A1. Nice camera, small and easy to use. But if I was buying again I would want a camera that gives me more manual control so I think that this is a key question to consider. Will you ever want to have any sort of manual control over what you are filming?

For example my wish list on a replacement camera for me would include (not an exhaustive list) the ability to control depth of field, changing the exposure (built in neutral grey filters and shutter speed control), to have focus ranges marked on the manual focus ring - on the A1 focal distance is only shown in the viewfinder and it moves very sharply from short range to medium, making precise manual focus very tricky.

Problem is that Mrs Twosheds will definately not look kindly at me spending the UK£sss when I already have a useable camera! Ah well, we can all dream......

[Chuck Engels]

There are a couple of used Canon GL-2s at B&H for under $1500
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/used/2558 ... _3CCD.html

[Greg mgm]

on the A1 focal distance is only shown in the viewfinder and it moves very sharply from short range to medium, making precise manual focus very tricky.

That can be adjusted by going into the menu.

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

on the A1 focal distance is only shown in the viewfinder and it moves very sharply from short range to medium, making precise manual focus very tricky.

That can be adjusted by going into the menu.

Yes, but it still doesn't have focal distances engraved on the focus ring and that was what I was refering to.

Focus is only achieved by looking through the viewfinder whereas if one had focal length guides on the focus ring one could pre-focus a shot knowing that only minor adjustment might be required once viewing the image in the viewfinder.

[Ric]

Thanks everyone for your help and ideas. Jackfalbey have you read your private email I have not heard back from you about your video camera?